It’s not unreasonable to question how objective a site called “Digital Book World” would be on this, but it’s worth noting that they partnered with PlayCollective.

According to the summary, 45% of parents (not legal guardians?) of children aged 2 to 13 plan to buy an e-book reading device (an EBR…E-Book Reader or a tablet, but the latter with the intent of reading books) this holiday season.

That’s up from last year by 4%.

I’ll note two other things, and then encourage you to read that summary…I don’t want to take too much away from it.

First, the most popular device for this is a Kindle (they didn’t break down which kind) at 26%.

Second, a full 75% plan to buy e-books for their kids this year, up 2% from last year.

As they say, “our children are the future”. If kids grow up reading e-books, they’ll very likely want to read them as adults.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that p-books (paperbooks) simply disappear…I expect them to stay around, as vinyl records have.

40 free apps of the day today

Finishing up today is a special Black Friday promotion with 40 apps which normally cost something being available for free today:

There are some good choices here, and as usual, I’ve gotten them all. 🙂 I have them delivered only to the Cloud, unless it’s something I want to start using soon. I figure, why not? Our guest who is here, currently using our

Don’t wait on these, and don’t forget that they can make great gifts! You can delay a gift book to be delivered at the date of your choosing, and the recipient does not need a Kindle to read them (there are a lot of free Kindle reading apps). If they already have the book, they can get a gift card for the value instead, so there is really no risk.

Some of the ones I see: The Invention of Wings; Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Outlander); Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King; The Silk Worm (J.K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith…this is the new one)…you want new popular books on sale, time’s a’wastin’! 😉

The Echo is learning

Some people who have gotten the Amazon Echo (no invitation for me yet) seem to be judging it as though it was as good as it was ever going to get. I even saw somebody say that “like most technology”, it was going to be obsolete as soon as you got it.

The Echo (ILMK Echo posts category) is not a self-enclosed device. When you bought a videogame console years ago, and you bought games for it, well, that was about it…no updates, it was what it was. To get a better experience, you would eventually have to buy another machine.

Kindles, on the other hand, are update pretty often (until they are out of the “front list” of current ones being sold, at least). Those are operating system upgrades, and they may bring us new features and better performance.

The Echo, though, can grow in a way different from either of those.

Most of what happens on the Echo happens in the Cloud…not in your house.

Right now, the Echo “hive mind” is learning from what someone is doing with the device.

I’ve seen anecdotal reports already of something not working at first, then reporting it, and then having it work. One example was a band with a quirky spelling to the name (two words smashed together…and I think there was a number in there, too). Two people reported Echo not understanding it…then, it did!

Another example is that, according to the help pages, you ask it for a “Flash Briefing” to get the local weather and the news. Now, apparently, you can get the same thing just by saying, “Alexa, news”.

Oh, “Alexa”, by the way, is the name of a company Amazon bought about 15 years ago. You can currently change the “listening prompt” to “Amazon”, and they are working are more prompts. Eventually, you may be able to choose your own.

My point about this updating that’s happening is that it happens in the Cloud…not on your device.

If you have an Echo, please keep reporting how it works. I’ve been told you can say, “Alexa, that was wrong” to flag the question and response for review.

It also appears to be getting a lot of joke responses as people say things like, “Alexa, beam me up” or “Open the pod bay doors”. My intuition here is those are also being improved regularly.

Essentially, Alexa is what used to be called a “dumb terminal” for the most part. Its music playing hardware is one thing, but the conversational skills are handled at Amazon…so those can be updated on the hardware you have.

Eventually, there will be newer models with more capabilities, including perhaps faster response times (although it seems pretty fast now), but I wouldn’t worry about yours becoming quickly out of date.

Both my Significant Other and my now adult kid are creeped about by the idea of the Echo, and my kid doesn’t even want to be in the same house as one. 🙂 I said that was going to be inevitable, but hopefully, I get an invitation and get one after this visit is over, so we don’t have that issue. Otherwise, I suppose I can unplug it while my kid is in the house.

arrived! I took a quick break to set it up…that was basically plugging it into the power and the HDMI outlet on our TV (we just bought a new TV today…we had one that was at least ten years old as our main TV. I would have waited until the holidays, but we saw an Element ((that’s a brand I like)) at a great price at Target: under $150 for 32″).

I just had to give it our network password, and it’s downloading the latest updates now!

I’ll write a review of it soon. With our kid here, my writing time has been a bit curtailed (family first), but hopefully, in the next few days.

I want to get this out now, so people don’t miss the $3.75 price on the books and the free apps!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help! By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

It’s the same account: buy a Kindle book from AmazonSmile, and it’s the same as if it you bought it from Amazon.

The difference?

You pick a non-profit (from thousands and thousands of choices), and Amazon donates half a percent of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to that group.

It’s that simple to help.

You can change your non-profit choice whenever you want.

Half a percent may not sound like much, but if you spend $100, your designated group gets fifty cents. If ten people spend $100 and have picked that group, they are up to $5.

I’ve been on the board of a non-profit: every penny can help. Organizations can often use money like that to reach out to larger donors.

We use AmazonSmile for purchases…and we feel good doing it.

For the month to date, about 30% of the purchases (based on amount spent) using ILMK** have been at AmazonSmile…I’d love to see that go up.

I’m sure you could find some group you’d like to help.

For example, I put “literacy” into the search box, and got 6,209 results.

In my family, Black Friday is a tradition…and a big part of it is buying toys for Toys for Tots. It’s a great time to get the mainstream, popular toys for kids who might not otherwise get them. Even a child in need has heard of Frozen, or Superman…it can make them feel more “normal” to have them.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving: and we are thankful for our ability to help others. If you are going to shop at Amazon today anyway, you also have that ability.

* When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help!

** I don’t know about all the purchases inspired by ILMK, and I don’t know who bought what. I just get some aggregate figures

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them

Now, this might just be a sudden leap because of it going on sale, but I think it could make actual inroads into the market. I don’t like mine as well as I did my Galaxy, but I do like it…and it’s a bit of a chicken and the egg issue of having market share to get apps developed for it.

It’s also worth noting that, even at this $199 price, you still get a year of Amazon Prime (a $99 value), whether you are already a subscriber or not. That makes the price effectively $100.

One other tip…Amazon sent me a heads up on this deal:

“Happy Holidays! With Black Friday two days away, Amazon has announced another great deal starting at 9pm PST tonight [Wednesday, November 26] where customers using the promo code HOLIDAY30 will receive an additional 30% off of purchase for one book, not including eBooks or Audible Audiobooks. The offer is available for a limited time. “

Okay, okay…I know that’s not a Kindle deal. 🙂 If you want to see Amazon’s Black Friday Kindle device deals (with links), see

* When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help!

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them

Amazon gave me advanced notice on what the Black Friday device specials will be. These prices will not be valid until Friday, so I am not giving you links to them now…this is just a heads up so you can plan! 🙂

Update: okay, I’m adding in the links. Please check the price before you click or tap that “Buy” button. The prices listed here may not be the same in your country (I have readers around the world). Also, it’s possible the special price is only on certain configurations of the device…maybe on one size of memory and not on another, maybe on a device with wi-fi only, and not on one with wi-fi and 3G, that kind of thing. I’ll only link to one “flavor” of each one…there are usually buttons on the page to make other selections.

—

Hi Bufo,

Happy Holidays! I wanted to give you a heads up on Black Friday deals for Amazon devices beginning tomorrow. These deals will extend through the holiday weekend. Deals include:

· Fire phone is now available unlocked with a no contract price of $199 through Cyber Monday Amazon Fire Phone, 32GB (Unlocked GSM) (at AmazonSmile*) [Bufo’s note: this is a $250 savings! Unlocked means you can use it with different carriers, not just AT&T…many people didn’t buy a Fire Phone initially because of the AT&T partnership. They had the unlocked phone before, but it was much more expensive. This has now pushed the Fire Phone to being (at time of writing) Amazon’s bestselling electronic! That’s an amazing jump: it passed the Chromecast and the Fire TV Stick.]

· $39 Fire TV Stick available at Best Buy and Staples for $24.99

Kindle (deal running 11/27-11/29)

All-new Kindle – featuring a touchscreen display, a 20% faster processor, and twice the storage. Kindle e-readers are lightweight and easy to hold, measure battery life in weeks, not hours, and allow for reading with no glare even in bright sunlight.

Kindle Paperwhite (deal running 11/27-11/29)

Kindle Paperwhite is one of Amazon’s most popular Kindles, with a touchscreen that has no screen glare in bright sunlight, a battery that lasts for weeks, not hours, and a built-in light that allows you to read without eyestrain.

Kindle Unlimited/Kindle Bundle (deal running 11/27-11/29)

Better together: Get the $79 Kindle and 6-months of Kindle Unlimited for just $79 or Kindle Paperwhite and 6-months of Kindle Unlimited for just $129. Kindle Unlimited offers unlimited reading from over 700,000 books, including best sellers like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Landing page:

The new Fire HD tablets are available in both 6” and 7” and five color choices – black, white, cobalt, magenta, and citron. The new Fire HD, features a quad-core processor, front and rear-facing cameras, an HD display and a world-class ecosystem of exclusive features, services, and content.

Fire phone (deal running 11/25-12/1)

The Fire phone is now available unlocked. The unlocked Fire phone works with GSM carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, Metro PCS and Cricket and for a limited time only is only $199. Fire phone includes a full year of Amazon Prime membership for access to Amazon’s vast digital ecosystem and unlimited photo cloud storage as well as exclusive features like Mayday, Second Screen and X-Ray.

Fire TV Stick (deal running 11/23-11/29 at Best Buy and Staples)

While it’s sold out on Amazon.com, customers can discover Fire TV Stick, the fastest-selling Amazon device ever, at Best Buy and Staples stores. Fire TV Stick is a small stick that connects to the HDMI port on your HDTV for instant access to movies, TV shows, music, photos, apps, and games.

* When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help!

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them

Again, a great gift…especially for someone who doesn’t even have a Kindle yet.

They get a good Kindle (it doesn’t have a light…you might consider one as a gift along with it, but you don’t really need one) and six months of unlimited reading access. Okay, you can only have ten books out at a time, but that’s not really a problem unless you are going somewhere with no internet access. Not very many people will read ten books before they can get back to wi-fi.

Again, I genuinely believe this could be life transforming in some cases.

One more thing:

There will be Black Friday deals on Kindles and Fire tablets: Amazon says so.

* When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help!

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them

* When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help!

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help!

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them

Barnes & Noble will have 500,000 copies of books signed by 100 authors (including Neil Gaiman, Amy Poehler, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Anne Rice) available just to instore customers.

That’s not a lot of them per store: on average, 5,000 per author (but it may not have an even distribution) and they have about 700 stores (assuming the college stores don’t get any). That comes out to about seven copies per store per title, again assuming they were evenly distributed (which they won’t be).

Bottom line: I would expect the big names to sell out within the first hour.

Again, I think this is a clever move…although I suspect we’ll see many of them for sale on Amazon afterwards from third-party sellers. That and eBay and such.

They will make good gifts: there is something special about an autographed copy, and while there are technological ways to do that with an e-book, it isn’t the same.

Unlike some people, I’m not convinced this is B&N’s last holiday season as a brick-and-mortar (I’m a former brick-and-mortar bookstore manager). They are making some effective moves into things other than books, and there is more profit in the toys and games (I also managed a game store at one point).

Continuing to compete with Amazon on books? That’s a significant challenge. Staying in business as a main street retailer? That’s a possibility.

Once the Amazon Echo gets more integrated with shopping (especially outside of Amazon), that will give all brick-and-mortars more of a challenge.

Imagine this:

“Alexa, can you buy a signed copy of Gone Girl and send it to my cousin Pat?”

Alexa: “Sure. I can have it there in three days for twenty-five dollars or in two days for $30.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

If that happened, would you care where the Echo got it? Probably not. As I picture it, that store would pay Amazon a cut for arranging the sale, keeping your price low.

That’s what Amazon wants, in my opinion: to become the infrastructure of consumerism.

For this Black Friday, though, I think the promotion will work for Barnes & Noble…at least for that first hour. I suspect we’ll hear that Amazon won the season, though.

What do you think? Do you have any signed copies? I have one signed by Kirk Alyn (the serial’s Superman), who signed it for me at a convention. It’s a bit of a surprise to me how valuable that seems to me. Do you think this will extend to other sales for B&N on Friday (when these become available)? What will B&N look like in the holiday season of 2015? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help!

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help!

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them

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